I followed him across the lobby, the soft background music creating a false sense of relaxation as our footsteps padded across the thick carpeting.
“In here.” Ranger X rested his hand on my lower back, causing a jolt of electricity to sizzle across my skin.
I tried not to shiver at his touch, but it was like trying to stop a sneeze. Our close proximity amplified his motions; every breath, every footstep felt intensely personal. I stepped away from his hand as he pushed open the door to a dark room. I wanted to tell him to leave the light off for a moment so we could be here together. Quietly. Just the two of us.
But he flicked the light on, and I blinked twice as my eyes adjusted.
“Hi,” he said, more softly now. “Thanks for coming.”
I didn’t bother to correct him. Really, I’d just stopped by to see Poppy, but I wasn’t going to burst his bubble.
“I know you came to see Poppy,” he said quickly. “But it worked out well because I needed to talk to you anyway. Please tell me everything you remember about the man who ordered The Elixir.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“First of all, I pride myself on keeping my clients’ business confidential. If I started blabbing what everyone ordered, I’d lose half my clientele. Nobody wants the entire island to know they’ve ordered a Balding Beverage or a Height Helper. That sort of stuff is private.”
“Not when it’s a matter of security.”
“How is this a matter of security?” I sat down at the conference table, two seats away from Ranger X. The distance helped me think. “Gus was there the entire time. I hadn’t known about The Elixir before my guest requested it, so I was as clueless as the next person. It was Gus who guided me through everything.”
“And you trust Gus?”
I looked at him curiously. He was the second person to ask in one day. “Of course I trust him.”
Ranger X glanced down at the table where he’d folded his hands.
“How do you even know about The Elixir?” I broke the silence. “It was just this afternoon the visitor came in. It took over an hour to brew, and I only served it to him thirty minutes ago or so.”
“There’s strong magic in that spell.” Ranger X leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. “Ranger HQ is responsible for the safety of The Isle. We have triggers in place to alert us of potentially harmful magic.”
I scrunched my nose up. “How can you tell?”
“Magic has an equal and opposite reaction; it leaves a trace. The spell doesn’t just disappear. It takes energy to create a spell, and during a very intense spell, a void emerges. We have our own hexes to sense these voids.”
“That’s why it’s harder to perform bad magic.” I gave a slow nod. “Someone—was it you?—explained to me when I first arrived that The Faction has a harder battle ahead of them than we do because they’re using their powers to harm instead of help.”
He nodded. “Exactly. We can detect bad magic. That doesn’t mean we can always prevent it, but we usually send someone to check it out.”
“You sent someone to Magic & Mixology?”
“We were about to, but then you showed up here.” Ranger X eyed me. “You read my mind.”
“That was all Hettie,” I said with a laugh. “I was trying to find someone else.”
“Someone else?”
For a brief moment, I wondered if that glint in Ranger X’s dark irises didn’t also walk the line of jealousy. Then I pushed the thought away. The glint disappeared much faster than it’d arrived. “Okay, my turn. Tell me where you are at with the investigation for The Magic of Mixology.”
He exhaled a sigh. “We’re no further than when I updated you yesterday.”
“But you hadn’t made any progress when you updated me yesterday.”
“If I could change that, I would,” Ranger X said grimly. “I’ve never seen anything like it. There are no traces of magic. None of our sensors detected foul play, there is not a hint of a fingerprint in the room, and nobody saw anything.”
“I need it back!”
“I’m well aware.” Ranger X’s jawline tensed. “I’m working on it, as are many of my best men. They’re scouring The Isle now asking for help from less than...traditional members of The Isle.”
I didn’t bother to ask. Whether he was referring to werewolves or gnomes or giants, I really wasn’t sure I needed to know the nitty-gritty details. “Do you think that’ll actually help anything, or is it a long shot?”